Dark Angel
by IWillBelieveIt
Summary: Daniel has always stumbled through life, inflicting misery, until his latest assignment - an eighteen-year-old girl named Zoe. At first, Zoe's no more than his latest victim, until she sees him. Instead of killing her, Daniel decides to hide her away from those who want Zoe dead. But what emotions has stirred within him and why can see him? And how far will he go to protect her? AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is my new story. I want to give a big shoutout to Zoelook-a-like and ainsley25 because - I'm going to be 100% honest here - when I first told you guys about the concept for this story, I was thinking, '_This is stupid, you two are going to tell me that I've officially gone completely insane,' _but their response was pretty much the exact opposite, hence giving me the courage to actually write this. The idea for this came while I was watching the music video for 'You Found Me' by The Fray (if you don't know who they are, there's something wrong. Seriously, go and look them up. They're amazing) and if any of you have seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say that when I first watched it, I thought that maybe the band were meant to be like angels of death or something like that, the way they were standing on the tops of buildings and hanging around an ambulance. _Anyway, _I'll stop rambling and let you guys get on with reading the story now.**

* * *

I was standing on the tallest point in the entire city, watching as the humans, talking to each other about their petty, irrelevant problems walked below. Any of them were much too under-dressed to be standing where I was – especially the females. In the past century or so, the clothing that the women had stated to wear became more and more revealing – they stopped wearing dresses so much and now, they mostly wore pants and shirts. It was pathetic really – how the females seemed to believe that they needed to show more skin that they wore clothes for any man to love them. If only they knew what I knew – oh, how the men worshipped them.

The wind ruffled my hair. It was blonde, an almost replica of my amber-coloured eyes, but yet a complete contrast to the colour of the wings attached to my shoulder blades, which were as black as night air around me if you took out the lights and noise and humanity of it all, the feathers as silky as a raven's.

Over the centuries, I have had many different names, all with origins from all over the world. Elijah, Dimitri, Jacob, David, Alexander and Peter, just to name a few. But no matter what year it is, no matter what my name is, my existence and the nature of my existence never changes.

* * *

I walked into the abandoned office complex, walking confidently into what would have once been a room that would have been used for meetings – there was a long, rectangular table in the room and amusingly, there were mugs of coffee that had gone cold long ago sitting on it. I averted my gaze to the being who looked like a man standing at the head of the table. He had dark brown hair that he kept cut short and like my own, his eyes were warm amber.

"Loki." I greeted. While I chose the names I used based on how they fitted in with human society (not that it mattered much, the only ones that could see us were the elderly and even then, they only saw us the very moment that they died), Loki tended to choose his names based on television and movies. Unlike me, his name changed every five years or so. Just to name a few, he'd been called Niklaus, Edward, James, Gale, Leonard, Tom and now he went by Loki, who I believed to be the name of one of the characters in a series of comic books that had been adapted to a movie.

"Daniel. It's nice to see you are well." Loki said.

"Enough of the normalities, Loki." I said, standing with my hands behind my back. "What's my next assignment?"

"Always so efficient." Loki said. He pulled out a remote and immediately, a video was projected onto the wall. There was no sound and it was obviously a home movie, but it showed a young female playing with her younger sister. Then the video changed to a photo – showing the older of the two sisters.

"She's pretty." I commented, crossing my arms over my chest. Because I dealt with humans more than anyone else of my kind, I knew more about them and so I knew that this girl was beautiful by human standards. Her auburn hair was worn loose, framing her delicate features – soft lips, the elegant slope of her jaw and cheekbones, the happiness shining in her bright green eyes. Her fringe was cut above her eyes and I recalled how lucky she was. Red hair and green eyes wasn't as common as people might think. Her skin was a natural pallor of white – I knew that she wouldn't tan easily, her skin would just burn. I noticed how dainty she was – she had a slim waist, narrow shoulders.

"This is Zoe London." Loki said. "Eighteen, oldest of three kids. She has two sisters, Keri and Libi. Libi's the youngest out of all them at ten, Keri's fifteen."

I nodded, listening thoughtfully. "Where is she living now?"

"New York City." Loki said. "She's working as waitress in Starbucks."

I felt my lips quirk up into a cruel half-smile. "Consider the job done."


	2. Chapter 2

I stood in the middle of the hustle and bustle of New York City, waiting. Finally, a slim girl with auburn hair cascading down her back walked out into the street and started heading away from me. I moved after her, walking easily through the crowd as though I were a ghost.

I followed after her at a distance; although humans couldn't see me, they could sense my presence, but a few times, Zoe glanced back and I could have sworn she looked _right at me_, although that's impossible.

I trailed her until she turned off into an alley way, which I thought was a very, very stupid move on her part. I followed her, feeling how easy this assignment was going to be.

Or not.

As I walked into the alley, I saw a flash of auburn before something slammed into me, knocking me backwards.

"Who the hell are you and why are you following me?" A female voice snarled. Groaning, I looked up into the face of the redheaded girl standing over me, her expression the picture of fury.

"I was . . . wait, you can see me?"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Of course I can see you. I'm female, not blind."

Still reeling with this news, I got to my feet. Zoe took a step back, fear flickering across her features as she, presumably, saw the colour of my eyes. Then her determination returned and she crossed her arms over her chest. "You still haven't answered my question."

I made a choice.

"Zoe, I need you to listen to me _very carefully."_

"How do you know my name?"

Shit.

"Not important right now." I told her. "Look, I can be your saviour or your worst nightmare. Do you want to live?"

"Of course I do. Wha – who are you? What do you mean, 'be my worst nightmare'? How do you know me?"

"You want to live." I said. "Come with me and I'll explain everything, I promise. I'll keep you safe. But right now, I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"

Zoe regarded me carefully, obviously trying to work that out. Finally, she sighed and nodded. "Yes, I can. For now."

I held out my hand and she took it, allowing me to pull her towards me. As her green eyes flickered up to my face uncertainly, I hoped that I hadn't just condemned us both to die very slow and painful deaths.

* * *

I was sitting on the window seat, watching Zoe's sleeping form, as I'd done for the past six hours. I hadn't moved and my wings ached to be set free – I hadn't used them since my meeting with Loki, almost three days ago.

Zoe gasped as she woke, scrambling up into sitting position on the bed. Her green eyes, wide with unfamiliarity and fear, looked around wildly until they came to rest on me. I clasped my hands together and ducked my head, watching her curiously as she keep her cautious eyes trained on me.

"Who are you?" Zoe asked.

"My name is Daniel." I said. "I am . . . well, it's kind of hard to explain."

Zoe bit her lip and sighed. "You said that you'd keep me safe if I trusted you. If I promise not to run, will you tell me what's going on?"

I nodded. "Where do you want me to start?"

Zoe took a deep breath. "In . . . In the alley in New York, you said that you could be my worst nightmare. What did you mean?"

"Do you promise not to run?" I asked.

Zoe, looking frightened and confused, simply nodded. I took a deep breath and stood, closing my eyes. I flexed the muscles in my wings and then the sound of tearing fabric filled the air as I spread my wings. Zoe screamed and scrambled backwards, her eyes wide as she stared at the raven-coloured feathers.

"What . . . What are you?" Zoe whimpered.

"I am an Angel of Death. I was assigned to you." I told her, folding my wings against my back again. My shirt was now in shreds and Zoe was now staring at me with tears running down her cheeks. "Angel . . . of Death? You mean . . . you came to kill me?"

I nodded. "For centuries, that it was I have done. I have killed the people I have been assigned to."

"Assigned to?" Zoe asked. "So like . . . you're like a supernatural assassin?"

"Essentially, if that's the way you want to look at it." I said, sitting down.

"So . . . you've been assigned to me. To kill me." Zoe said, obviously trying to hold tears back. "Why . . . why did you bring me here, then? Why didn't you just kill me in that alley?"

"Try to understand, Zoe." I said, leaning forward. "Part of my genetic makeup is that I _can't _be seen by humans. Sometimes the very old can see us, but that's only for a few seconds at a time. But you – you can see me all the time. Why is that?"

Zoe shrugged. "To me, you just look like a normal guy. True, a normal guy with yellow eyes and _wings, _for Christ's sake, but a normal guy nonetheless."

I raked a hand through my hair and sighed. "Try and get some sleep, Zoe. We'll talk more when you wake up. Okay?"

Zoe looked unsure and I smiled. "Don't worry. I won't murder you in your sleep."

Zoe nodded and lay back down, burrowing herself into the pillows. "Okay. Goodnight, Daniel."

"Night." I murmured, tuning into the sound of her breathing, listening as it slowly evened out as she fell asleep. As she slept, I let my eyes travel over the shape of her jaw, the red hair splayed out across the pillows. I'd seen more human women that I could count and most of those had died at my hand. But Zoe, this girl who was only _just _old enough to be a woman, was probably the most beautiful out of all of them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, before I allow you guys to read this, I believe that ****someone asked me where I got the name 'Dark Angel' from. Well, I had three choices of names. There was 'Angel of Death' 'You Found Me' and 'Dark Angel'. 'Angel of Death' was too obvious and 'You Found Me' just didn't sit right, so that only left 'Dark Angel.' Now that that's done, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

When Zoe woke up, I watched her carefully as she slowly sat up, keeping her eyes on me through a blanket of red which hung in front of her face. She pushed it out of the way as she sat on the edge of the bed, her green eyes wary. The tension that hung in the air was so thick that I could have cut it with a knife.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked finally, my voice barely audible.

Zoe continued to stare at me. "Why am I here? Why haven't you killed me yet?"

"I told you." I replied.

"Because I'm the first human who can see you all the time." Zoe replied. "But why? Why can I see when no one else can?"

"That's what I want to know." I told her. "Why can you see me? Is it some flaw in your genetics, or is it something simpler than that?"

Zoe watched me with an expression I couldn't read. "Daniel, can I ask you something?"

I nodded once.

"Why are you bothering? Why don't you just kill me?" Zoe asked quietly.

I looked away. "I've been doing this for a long time, Zoe London." I told her. "In all that time, I've never had the company of another person."

"You're lonely." Zoe said quietly, pulling her legs up and crossing them. She tilted her head to the side and gave me a look that would have burned into my soul, if I'd had one.

I watched her steadily. "I shouldn't feel lonely. I'm an Angel of Death, not a puppy."

Zoe smiled. "Everyone gets lonely sometimes."

I shook my head, "I shouldn't."

"What now?" Zoe asked gently.

"We keep you here. The Elders must know that I haven't killed you by now so they'll be looking for us both."

"Who are The Elders?" Zoe asked.

"Basically they're my bosses. They tell Loki to tell me who I'm assigned to." I replied.

Zoe swallowed and nodded. I noticed that all of a sudden she looked very scared, unshed tears sparkling in her eyes. Breathing heavily, she got up and sat beside me on the window seat with her back against the wall so she was facing the side of my body. She wasn't looking at me, though – she was looking out the window, at the snow outside.

"Where are we?" Zoe asked quietly.

"Russia." I told her. "This cabin's been abandoned for years."

Zoe sighed and rested her forehead against the glass, smiling ruefully. "It's ironic, isn't it? That I've always wanted to see snow and the first time I see it, I'm locked away in a cabin in the middle of nowhere because I have Grim Reapers coming after me."

I smiled. I found the portrayal of the 'Grim Reaper' hysterical. "Elders."

Zoe turned to look at me. "Same difference. So this Loki . . . will he be with these Elders?"

"I honestly don't know." I hated this – not knowing what was around the corner. I'd always had the answers, but now? Now I didn't even know if she was going to be alive tomorrow.

Zoe looked back out the window and placed one hand against the glass, sighing. I looked sideways at her and noticed the indecision in those beautiful green eyes of hers – she wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not.

"What do you want to say?" I asked.

"It's just . . . how did you get like this? Were you a bad person as a human, or –"

"I don't think I ever was human." I told her.

Zoe turned her head towards me. "You don't think you were or you just don't remember if you were?"

"I don't remember."

Zoe's gaze was piercing. "How old are you, Daniel?"

"Look at it this way. I remember the rise and fall of the Roman Empire." I told her.

"Oh. Oh wow. No offence, but that's really old." Zoe said.

I laughed and I wondered how long it had been since I did it. It had to have been at least a century. "That's quite alright, Zoe. I know I'm old. I don't mind being told that I am."

"It's just . . . you look so young. You don't look any older than me." Zoe said.

I shrugged. "One of the joys of being immortal, I guess."

A smile tugged at the corner of Zoe's mouth. "Like being the eternal stud, do you?"

Suddenly I felt confused. I cocked my head to the side, studying her face, trying to find the source of the joke that I was missing. "The eternal stud?"

Zoe smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'll explain it to you later."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The humans had some weird expressions.

"Daniel's a bit of a mouthful to say." Zoe said. "I think we need to modernise it a little."

This was going to be amusing. She was probably going to call me 'D' or something. "What did you have in mind?"

Zoe pulled her hair to one side, so that all of it hung over once shoulder, leaving the left side of her neck bare. I could sense her heart beating underneath her skin and I could see the slight pulsing of her vein against her pale skin. When she spoke, I noticed that she had a voice like velvet – it was soft and smooth and I wondered why she didn't have human men lining up at court her. Or maybe the word these days was date. I'd always hated the human language – it changed so quickly. I'd only just learned to say 'the' instead of 'thee' in the past ten years.

"What about Dan?" Zoe asked. "It's only a shortened version of Daniel."

I considered this. She was right. It sounded modern and it wasn't too out-there, like a lot of names these days were.

"I suppose I could live with that." I told her.

Zoe grinned at me and got up.

"Where are you going?" I asked. "Did you not get the part that you have several Angels of Death wanting to see your blood all over these walls?"

Zoe turned and rolled her eyes. "Please tell me this place has a kitchen, Dan. I'm _starving."_

Then she walked out, leaving me sitting there, mulling over my new name. I decided that I liked it a lot more than any of the other names I'd had over my lifetime. I should have been making young beautiful human girls decide my name for me a long time ago.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Just quickly, I want to thank - hang on while I check the name -TomAneisha4EVER for pointing something out to me - that for a story called '_Dark _Angel,' this story isn't very dark. As a result, I have vowed to make this story as dark as I possibly can. It will take a little while for the darkness to settle, but it is going to come, trust me! **

* * *

I stood in the doorway, watching curiously as Zoe pulled out a pan and walked to the fridge, pulling out a carton of eggs. "Do, um . . . Angels of Death eat?"

I shook my head.

"So why is there food here?" Zoe asked, walking over to the stove and switching it on, placing the pan on it.

"Because humans do eat. And just in case you haven't noticed, my dear, you are human." I told her.

"You know there is such a thing as McDonald's, right?" Zoe asked, smirking.

"Yes, but then you'd get fat, wouldn't you?"

Zoe seemed amused by this as I walked over to her, leaning against the counter. As she cracked an egg and started cooking it, she glanced at me. "Can I ask you another question?"

"I suppose." I said.

"Why are your eyes that colour?" Zoe asked.

"This is the colour eyes one has if they do not have a soul." I told her gently.

"So, if . . . if I lost my soul . . ." Zoe said slowly. "My eyes would turn amber?"

"Humans can't lose their souls. They're too full of life." I told her.

"Can I ask you something else?" Zoe asked.

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

Zoe looked away sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm just curious. I'd never even realised that there was Angels of Death until yesterday."

I smiled at her. God, what was this girl doing to me? I hadn't smiled this much in centuries. "Ask your question, Zoe."

"Do you ever wish that things had played out differently? That you were human and normal right now, instead of hiding a girl you've known for little over a day in the middle of nowhere?"

"Russia." I told her. "We're in the middle of Russia, not nowhere."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Just answer the damn question, bird brain."

I studied her, wondering if she had some ulterior motive, maybe escape. I came up blank. She seemed to understand the danger she was in and how much more she would be subject to if she tried to escape. She seemed to genuinely just be curious about my kind and wanting to understand more. Maybe she was just trying to understand how I worked.

I wondered how we would have met if I had been human – would we be sitting in a kitchen right now, the both of us trying to find the motivation to hurry up and finish our coffees in order to finish getting ready for work? Or would we just be lying in bed, our bodies intertwined. I imagined Zoe lying with her head on my chest as I ran my hands through that beautiful auburn hair, untangling any knots and she pressed kiss after kiss upon my bare skin.

There was one thing I knew for sure – if I had met her as a human, we wouldn't have met in an alleyway with my full intentions being to hear her heart stop. We would have met in a club and my only intention would have been to see if this beautiful girl would allow me enough of her attention to dance with me.

"Sometimes." I told her. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I were human. But not often, though."

"How often do you imagine yourself as a human?" Zoe asked.

"Just now was the first time." I told her.

* * *

Later, I was lounging in the living room while Zoe was in the kitchen, cooking. _Again. _Seriously, how much did humans eat? Didn't it get annoying, having to eat all the time?

"Dan!" Zoe screamed suddenly, a pan banging into the sink. "Dan!"

I flew into the kitchen, pushing the guy standing a few feet from Zoe away from her, pushing myself between him and her. Zoe pressed her face into the back of my shirt, her cheek against my right wing with only a thin piece of fabric between her skin and the limb covered in feathers.

I tensed as The Elder got up – and I saw that it wasn't one of The Elders at all.

"Loki?" I asked.

"Daniel." Loki greeted. He looked at Zoe and she hid herself further behind me, placing her hand on my waist. I could feel her trembling and I reached behind me, brushing my fingertips over her arm, hoping that it would calm her.

"So it's true." Loki said. "You didn't kill her. And she can see us."

Behind me, Zoe trembled. I forced myself to not turn around and comfort her like I wanted to. "There is no guarantee that I won't kill her when I find out why she can see us, Loki. I want to know what's going on before I decide what to do with her."

Loki nodded. "Keep me updated, will you?"

I nodded and then Loki wrapped his wings around himself and then was gone. I turned to Zoe and she started backing away from me, until she bumped into the counter. "You . . . you're going to –"

"I'm not going to kill you." I told her.

"Oh, aren't you? Because you just told _Loki _that –"

"I lied to Loki." I told her. "Loki's loyalties change faster than you can blink. If he knew that I am truly keeping you safe, then he would kill us both. He looks scrawny, but believe me, Zoe, he has that power. And we're in trouble – he knows our location. Be ready, Zoe. That's all I can tell you."

"Be ready for what – to fight or fly?" Zoe asked as I turned my back on her, running my hands through my hair. Was it only a few hours ago that I had told her that humans can't lose their souls while she made eggs? It felt like an entire lifetime had passed since then.

I turned to look at her – examining her features. Intelligent green eyes. Fiery red hair. Long, thick eyelashes. Round cheeks. Soft mouth.

"Be ready for both, Zoe London." I told her. "Because if we get cornered, we're going to have to fight. But if we can get away, we're not running. We'll be flying, because running would much too slow. They'd catch us and kill us within two kilometres."


	5. Chapter 5

I glanced at Zoe's sleeping form before I spread my wings, the two large masses of feathers and muscle easily tearing through the back of my shirt. With one last glance at the sleeping girl, I wrapped my wings around myself and when I pulled them back to rest against my back again, only a minute later, I found myself in an apartment building. When I looked out the window, I could see the New York City skyline.

Turning away from the window, I moved into the living room, where a family was sitting, watching television. They all looked dejected and out of the two girls sitting on the floor, one ten years old and the other fifteen, I recognised the younger of them. Libi. She was the sister I'd seen Zoe playing with in the video Loki showed me when he assigned me to Zoe.

I could easily see the family resemblance between these people and Zoe. Libi and Keri both had the same bright auburn hair as Zoe, which the three of them had obviously inherited from their mother, who was sitting on the couch beside their father, who had bright green eyes.

Suddenly, Libi burst into tears, wrapping her arms around herself. Immediately, Keri hugged her sister, muttering something in her ear. In Libi's response, I heard Zoe's name. Guilt rose in my chest and I pushed it back down. I hadn't felt a trickle of my humanity since the first World War. I didn't see any reason for it to return now.

I turned away from Zoe's family and walked into the kitchen, where a stack of papers were sitting on the table. I walked over to it and picked one of the papers up, which read, 'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS PERSON? IF SO, PLEASE CONTACT JAKE LONDON ON 61269876' In the middle of the page was a photo of a smiling Zoe, happiness glinting in her green eyes and her auburn hair spilling across her shoulders.

I took one of the missing person posters and folded it up, putting it into my pocket before I wrapped my wings around myself and was gone.

* * *

When I returned to the cabin in Russia, Zoe was hysterical and in tears.

"Where were you?" She cried, tears drying on her cheeks. "I couldn't find you anywhere! What if the Elders had come? What if Loki had come back?"

"But they didn't." I said, sitting down on the bed. "You want to know where I was? Give me your hands."

Confused, Zoe allowed me to take them. I closed my eyes and focused on what I'd just seen, on Jake London, on Zoe's sisters, on her mother, before I sent those memories into Zoe's mind. I knew when they reached her because Zoe gasped, gripping my hands tightly. I carefully eased my hands out of hers and Zoe looked at me, her green eyes sparkling with tears. "That's where you were. You were checking on my family."

"They're looking for you." I said, pulling out the missing person's poster and handing it to her. Zoe wiped her tears away as she stared at it, before she let it go, using the heels of her hands to brush her tears away.

"I had to make sure they were okay." I told her. "The Elders are not above torturing humans to get the information they want."

Zoe took a deep breath and looked up at me as I leaned back against the footboard of the bed. "Dan?"

"Yeah." I said gently, watching her for any sign of a breakdown.

"Why do The Elders and the Angels want me dead?" Zoe asked.

I leaned forward. "I'm guessing that the answer to that is the same reason why you can see me. The Angels of Death don't kill people when it's their time. When someone dies at our hand, it is because they know too much about the supernatural world. I was willing to bet that maybe it's a genetic thing, but I was standing in your living room while your entire family was watching television and none of them noticed me. You must have been subjected to the supernatural at some point, maybe when you were much younger."

Zoe looked thoughtful and she sighed.

"Zoe," I said. "If there is something, _anything, _that could have triggered your ability to see my kind, you need to tell me. This could mean either life or death of you and your family. Zoe, if you know something, tell me."

Zoe sighed. "I had another sister before Libi was even born. Keri doesn't even remember her. Her name was Kloe."

"Had? Was? What's with the past tense?" I asked.

"When I was six, I saw Kloe drop dead right in front of my eyes." Zoe said.

* * *

**MWAHAHAHA! THE NOTORIOUS CLIFFHANGER STRIKES AGAIN! Yes guys. I know, I'm evil. I'll go hide in a corner and try to work out when I became so evil.**


	6. Chapter 6

I stared at her. "She dropped dead?"

Zoe nodded. "I remember, she was outside teaching me how to punch properly when all of a sudden, she said, 'Who are you?' and she stopped, as if she was listening to someone talking and then she told me to get inside the house. I didn't do it and then she kind of went stiff and collapsed."

"That's usually what happens when an Angel touches the human they've been assigned to." I said.

"But you touched me and I'm not dead. And before that, I kicked you. You would've still been out to kill me. Wouldn't I have died when I kicked you?"

"No, because the touch has to be skin-to-skin contact and _I _have to touch _you_." I explained. "And I have to touch you with the intention of killing you. By the time I got to touch you, I had the intention of saving you, not killing you."

I sighed. "_That _might be why you can see me. I've heard a myth that there was this Angel of Death, about, oh, a century and a half ago, who was assigned to a young woman named Stella. Unlike most of us, who change our names constantly, Frank kept his name the same. Anyway, he set out to kill this woman but for some reason, she could see him. When Frank didn't kill her, The Elders came after them both."

"What happened?" Zoe asked.

"The Elders killed them both." I told her. "But not before Frank found out why Stella could see him. Stella had witnessed her mother die at the hand of an Angel of Death when she was two."

"But what has that got to do with _me?_" Zoe asked. "And what has that got to do with Kloe?"

"Most people who are killed by my kind are killed because they have seen things that they're not supposed to have seen – a werewolf changing in the forest, a vampire drinking in a dark corner, demons. It could be anything. But a lot of them also forget that they've seen it almost as soon as they see it."

Zoe stared at me. "Werewolves? Vampires? _Demons?"_

I nodded. "Every creature you've ever heard of . . . they're all real."

"Oh, my God. So Kloe saw . . . something and the Angels of Death killed her, which I saw and seeing that, triggered an ability to see Angels of Death?" Zoe asked uncertainly. "And now, because I can see Angels, they're after me?"

I nodded. "I won't let them hurt you, Zoe."

Zoe moaned, lying down and covering her face with her hands. When she removed them, she looked at me pleadingly. "Dan, please just get out."

I sighed, but I stood up and moved towards the door. I stopped when I heard Zoe say my name. I looked over my shoulder at her and Zoe said, "You should get some sleep, Dan."

"I don't need sleep. I haven't slept in a very long time."

Zoe smiled. "You should try it. Trust me."

* * *

After spending three hours trying to follow her advice, I decided to try something I hadn't needed to use in at least a century. While an Angel of Death was assigned to a particular human, we were in tune with everything about them, which included being able to read their thoughts and invade their dreams.

I closed my eyes and focused on the girl sleeping only a room away. I focused on everything that she was – her beauty, her childlike curiosity, her unswerving loyalty. I recalled how she'd reacted when she discovered that her family were looking for her and I felt a smile tug at my lips as my mind found hers and I found myself inside her head.

* * *

"_Dan?" Zoe asked, getting up from her seat. I stared at her, unable to comprehend how beautiful she looked. She was wearing a white dress and her auburn hair was worn down, framing her delicate features as she studied me with curious green eyes. "What are you doing here?"_

"_You told me to sleep." I told her. "I did try, but I haven't slept since the Civil War."_

"_So you decided to just . . . invade my dreams instead?" Zoe asked, a smile playing on her lips._

"_I can go, if you'd like." I said. "It was more of an experiment than anything else. This is another thing I haven't done in a very long time."_

_Zoe stepped towards me. "It's okay. You're here now."_

_I started to answer, but then Zoe's expression changed, from happy to curious. _

"_What?" I asked._

"_Your eyes. They're not amber anymore. They're . . . They're blue." Zoe said slowly._

_My jaw fell slack. "What?"_

_Without a word, Zoe grabbed my hand and tugged me over to the window. In my reflection, I could see my own face – high cheekbones, pale blonde hair that sat just above my eyes and covered my temples, strong jaw. But instead of my eyes being burning amber in colour, they appeared to be as a deep ocean-blue colour. _

"_Dan . . ." Zoe breathed softly. "I think . . . I think you might have a soul."_

_I started to answer, but then I was sucked out of the dream against my will. It was the familiar sensation of my assignment waking up._

* * *

I opened my eyes to find myself sitting in the living room of our cabin in Russia, staring out the window as it snowed. I heard the door open and I turned towards the sound as Zoe stormed towards me, taking my face in her hands so that her gorgeous emerald eyes stared into mine.

"_What_ . . . are you doing?" I asked her, pulling my face away.

Before Zoe could answer, she screamed and collapsed on the floor, writhing in pain.

I leapt out of my seat and crouched next to Zoe, pulling her half into my lap. As I brushed her hair back from her face, her screams ceased and she sat up. I started to ask if she was okay, but I noticed something off about her posture – her back was too straight. She looked too royal.

"_Daniel_." She said, but it wasn't her voice. This voice sounded like three speaking at once – two female and one male. Her eyes glowed red. Blood red as she said, "_We are coming for you, Daniel. Both you and the girl."_

With that, Zoe gasped and collapsed again, but this time she collapsed into me, instead of the floor. Tightening my arms around her, I wrapped my wings around us both and then we vanished from the cabin living room in Russia.


	7. Chapter 7

I found I had dropped into _another _living room when I uncurled my wings from around Zoe and I and I walked towards the couch, gently placing Zoe onto it. Her head lulled to the side and she whimpered in her sleep, but she seemed unharmed from the ordeal that was possession, which she'd been subjected to.

After a while, Zoe suddenly shot up into sitting position, gasping desperately. "Dan?"

I knelt down beside the couch as she asked, "Wha . . . What happened?"

"You were possessed." I told her calmly.

"By a demon?"

I shook my head. "By The Elders."

"The Elders? That means . . ."

"They found us. Loki led them to us. Zoe, I'm sorry." I told her. "Well and truly, I am."

"What happens now?"

"They'll go after your sisters." I said.

"They're going to do _what? _Dan, we have to help them! We have to –"

"Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait." I told her, grabbing her arms. "Just relax. They're not going to go after them just yet. And I can't exactly lock them up like I have with you."

Zoe crossed her arms over her chest. "Why not?"

"Won't your parents find it a little . . . _odd _that _all _their children have gone missing within a week of each other?"

Zoe sighed. "_Why _must you be so logical?"

"Because I'm the one that has been alive since before the Roman Empire, remember?" I said, sitting beside her on the couch. Zoe smiled sadly, glancing over at me with those pretty green eyes of her's. "Will I ever get to stop running?"

"The Elders bore easily. I think eventually they'll find a reason to leave us alone."

"Like what?"

"I don't know . . . Make me human and erase our memories." I said, only half joking.

"Well, why don't they do that?"

"Because they still like bloodshed, no matter what. If they get to kill somebody, then it's a good day. If they don't, they're in a bad mood until they do."

Zoe sighed. "I _knew _there was something off about Loki."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, Zoe. He would have gone to them as soon as he left the cabin in Russia."

Zoe sighed, looking out the window. "Where are we, anyway? Africa?"

"Australia." I told her.

Zoe's face lit up and I couldn't help a grin as she rushed to the window, looking outside eagerly. I tuned into her thoughts. I was surprised to find that she wasn't even worrying about herself. She was worrying about her sisters and about _me_, of all people.

"I _will_ keep you safe, Zoe." I told her. "Nothing's going to happen."

Zoe sighed, walking back over to sit beside me on the couch. "But how many people have to die in order to keep me safe? _Who _has to die in order to keep me safe? Keri? Libi? Mum? Dad? You? I just want to know _why the hell _these stupid _Elders _can't leave me alone!"

"Because you're dangerous." A voice said from behind us.

I stood and whirled, pulling Zoe up and behind me as I unfurled my wings. Loki was standing behind the couch, his face an impassive mask of blankness. He cocked his head to the side, amber eyes sparkling with dangerous amusement. "Hello Daniel. Miss London."

Behind me, Zoe trembled as she hissed, "_Loki."_

Loki smiled, but there was no happiness in it. He just found cruel delight in the fact that his prey remembered who he was. Then he turned to me. "You were supposed to _kill _her, Daniel. Not protect her."

"You're not getting anywhere near her." I told him.

"No, but she may want to get near us." A girl with black eyes said, appearing. Her black eyes marked her as an Elder, but apart from that, she appeared to be a teenage girl, no older than sixteen. She had light brown hair that fell to her shoulders and a face filled with childlike beauty. I recognised her as Sky, the Elder known notoriously for her schemes and tricks that she used to kill people.

Two more Elders materialised – one appearing as a dark-skinned girl, roughly the same age as Sky, while the other appeared as a pale-skinned man with black hair. I recognised them as the two remaining Elders, Aneisha and Hamish, and both were dragging a auburn-haired girl each.

The girls Hamish and Aneisha were dragging cried and kicked against their captors, trying desperately to get free. I felt myself falter as I recognised both their faces and their ages. One was roughly ten years old, while the other was about fifteen.

"Libi! Keri!" Zoe cried, pitching forward. I blocked her path to her sisters with my wings as Keri and Libi called out for their sister, sobbing as Hamish and Aneisha released them. They fell to the floor and Keri hugged Libi tightly. "Zoe, what's going on?"

Zoe glanced desperately between her sisters and Loki, caught between the decision of whether she should lie to them or tell them the truth and cause lifelong trauma to both. Finally, she chose to lie.

"I promise, you're okay." Zoe said, still stuck behind my wings. "You're gonna be okay."

To prove her point, she ducked under my wings and rocketed towards her sisters, throwing her arms around them. Hamish, Sky and Aneisha watched her hungrily, like a pack of hyenas.


	8. Chapter 8

The instant Hamish moved, I flew through the air towards him, knocking him into the wall behind the couch. Loki pulled me off of Hamish and threw into the kitchen, where I slid across the kitchen table, taking the tablecloth and ceramic plates with me as I fell off the other side. As I raised my head, the broken pieces of the plates I'd broken rained down onto my head, a few stabbing me in the top of the head. I shook the jagged pieces of plate out of my hair and shot up, yanking a knife out of the block sitting on the counter, throwing it at Loki. I watched as the knife imbedded itself, right down down to the hilt, in Loki's chest.

Loki smirked and yanked the knife out, and it came out slick with thick, black blood that dripped off the blade and splattered on the floor. Loki threw the knife at me and somehow, I brought my hand up and curled it around the blade of the knife, feeling its sharp edges cut into my palm.

"You have become weak because of her, Daniel." Loki hissed, walking forward. "You used to be one of our best. Now you are weak."

In response, I stabbed forward with the knife, watching as it embedded into Loki's forehead. He screamed in rage and I shoved him into the counter, barrelling into the living room. Keri and Libi were still cowering in the corner and Hamish and Sky were watching as Zoe fought Aneisha. I was surprised - Zoe was holding her own incredibly well. Still, as soon as Aneisha's back was facing me, I threw the knife, watching as it sunk into her lower back, a hit that would been fatal to Zoe, no matter where it hit her.

Aneisha screamed, her hands clawing at her back as she dropped to the floor, her hands clawing at her back.

"Dan!" Zoe cried, running over to me as Hamish and Sky turned to me, hissing like rabid animals. I grabbed Zoe and pushed her behind me. I felt her fingers wrap around my arm as my eyes darted frantically between Zoe's sisters and The Elders. Hamish caught my gaze and stormed over to Zoe's sisters, yanking Keri to her feet. Libi cried out for sister and Keri struggled as Hamish pulled out a knife, pressing the blade lightly to her throat. "Give me the girl and her sisters will live."

"Al - " Zoe started, but I stopped her.

"What about a trade?" I asked.

Sky looked intrigued. "What kind of trade?"

"My wings." I said. "My wings for their lives. Take my wings and all of them walk free. _Including_ Zoe."

"Dan, that'll kill you!" Zoe cried.

"It's a deal." Aneisha said, managing to get the knife out as she stood. I felt Zoe press her face into my back, her delicate arms wrapping around my waist as she moaned, "Dan, please."

I turned to face her, my hands gripping her shoulders. "I'll be okay, Zoe. You never know, maybe I'll live. Maybe losing my wings will make me human."

Zoe shook her head, her beautful green eyes filling with tears. "It won't. Dan, that's impossible."

I hugged her tightly. "You'll be okay, Zoe."

Zoe made a small whimpering sound, but she said nothing.

"You'll be okay, Zoe. I promise." I told her. I kissed her forehead quickly and pulled away, turning to The Elders.

Hamish released Keri and pushed her towards Zoe. Keri stumbled to her sister, sobbing in fear as the two embraced tightly. Zoe called Libi over and three embraced as I approached Hamish, pulling off my shirt and bowing before him, spreading my wings.

"Dan. Please." Zoe whimpered, her voice muffled by Libi's shoulder. "Please don't do this."

I bowed my head, squeezing my eyes shut as Sky and Hamish walked behind me, each gripping the base of my wings with one hand and bracing themselves against my shoulder blades with the other.

"I'm sorry, Zoe." I whispered, digging my fingernails into the carpet.

I sent a quick prayer to whomever was listening, squeezing my eyes shut tighter as the grip on my wings tightened. My wings being pulled from my back resulted in the most immense pain imaginable. It felt like Hamish and Sky were reaching _into _my back and pulling out the muscles that sat underneath the skin of half my back and I threw my head back, screaming, as Hamish and Sky released me. I fell forward onto the floor, moaning in pain, as I turned my head slightly so I could see my wings as The Elders dumped them on the floor. I moaned as I saw the black blood that gathered on the floor, turning away from my wings.

"Dan!" Zoe cried, collapsing beside me. Slowly, I craned my head so I could see her. Her beautiful auburn hair hung around her face and she tucked it behind her ear, sobbing. "Dan, you can't . . . You're an Angel. You're not meant to die."

I smiled at her, gritting my teeth as the pain in my back intensified. "Everyone has to die at some point, Zoe. And this . . . This is my time."

Zoe shook her head. "You're an Angel. You're not meant to."

"I'm not a real Angel, Zoe. I'm a rip-off Angel."

Zoe shook her head again. "You're the closest thing to a real Angel I'll ever get to meet."

"You _will _be an angel someday, Zoe." I told her.

Zoe cried harder. "I'm so sorry, Dan. I'm so, so sorry."

I started to reply, to tell her it wasn't her fault, but a sharp pain shot up my back and it became too much. As Zoe sobbed my name, my whole world faded to black. After causing so much death, it was my time to die.


	9. Chapter 9

I opened my eyes slowly, groaning. I could feel a sharp pain in my back. Why did my back hurt so much? Then I remembered. The Elders. Keri and Libi. Zoe. The trade. My wings being pulled from my back.

Ignoring the dull pain between my shoulder blades, I twisted around, trying to get a good look at my back. I could see bandages, but I couldn't see – or feel – my wings.

I heard a door open and I looked up frantically to see Zoe, her face the picture of concern as I asked, "Where's my wings? They took my wings. Where are –"

"Hey, hey." Zoe said gently, getting on the bed and grabbing my face. "Take it easy. You're still healing."

I looked around me. "What happened? Where am I? What's going on?"

"You're in New York." Zoe said. "After The Elders left, I called my parents and told them some crap that I don't even remember. I don't thimk they even cared that I was lying to them and that I had this random guy with weird wounds and both my sisters couldn't remember a _damn thing_ and that, for some reason, we were in Australia and –"

"Wait, Keri and Libi don't remember anything?"

Zoe nodded. "I do, but they don't."

"So you're saying that I've lost my wings, I'm alive, I'm in New York City and Keri and Libi don't remember a damn thing?" I asked.

"Yeah . . ." Zoe said.

"Jesus Christ." I breathed.

"Dan? What? What is it?"

"Zoe, what colour are my eyes?"

"Oh my God." Zoe said, realisation filling her features.

"What colour are they?" I insisted.

"They're blue."

"They've done it." I said. "They erased Keri and Libi's minds and made me human."

Zoe stared at me. "Are you serious?"

I nodded and Zoe hugged me tightly, laughing. I smiled as I pressed my face into her hair. I could feel something swirling inside my chest, but I wasn't sure what it was. What was it?

"Maybe The Elders do have hearts after all. Maybe they do know more than death and destruction and causing misery." Zoe said.

"So many centuries." I whispered, pulling away. "For so many centuries, I killed people, just because that's what my orders were. How is anyone supposed to be able to love me like this, knowing what I was before?"

"Because tgey knew you before you were human." Zoe said gently, looking up at me. As I stared down at her, I realised that she was right. I could still feel that unknown feeling in my chest.

"What is that?" I hissed under my breath.

"What's what?" Zoe asked.

I took her hand and pressed it against my chest. "I can feel something. Here. I don't know what it is."

Zoe smiled. "I do."

"What is it?" I asked.

"That's love, Dan. And when we humans love someone, we do this."

Before I could ask what she was doing, Zoe pulled me down to her and pressed her mouth against my own. In my old form as an Angel of Death, I would have just sat there awkwardly, or killed her. Now I had different instincts and different feelings. Instead of hurting her, I pulled her towards me and moved my mouth against hers in a kiss, tangling my fingers in her hair.

When we pulled apart, we were both gasping. Zoe slowly rose her eyes to meet mine. "I love you, Daniel."

I smiled, resting my forehead against hers. "I love you too, Zoe London."

Zoe just smiled brilliantly and grabbed my face, pressing her mouth against my own again.

* * *

I was standing at the window, watching as the world rolled by below. I recalled when I had stood above this very city, thinking about how pathetic humans' lives were. Now, after meeting Zoe, I realised how fragile life was and that's why they were so reckless. They lived their lives to the fullest, because when life was short, if it wasn't full, what was the point in living?

I smiled as Zoe came up from behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist. I smiled, trailing my fingers up her arm.

"So many centuries." I whispered. "I've lost count of how many centuries I spent trailing humans, but it was worth nothing. I have no idea how to be human."

"That's okay. I'll teach you." Zoe replied.

I turned around to face her. "You were the best thing that ever happened to me, you know that?"

Zoe smiled up at me. "Look at that, you're already talking like us."

I smiled and kissed her, placing my hand on her cheek. Even as we kissed, I recalled that although I didn't have forever any more, I did have my own little piece of it still. And I was more than happy to just have that piece of forever, if it meant sharing it with Zoe.


End file.
